


Dark Waters

by Shadowdianne



Series: Too late [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 07:44:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5619100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/Shadowdianne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because if Emma would have been able to say more she knew that the tremulous vision in front of her wouldn’t have transformed into that. (Prequel of White Clouds)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Waters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GardensOfTheMoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GardensOfTheMoon/gifts).



> Dedicated particularly to thegardensofthemoon since it was her idea and not mine what prompted me to write such a thing. Based on the idea that appeared in my mind as I was listening to Wolven Storm, one of the songs from the soundtrack of the third game of the Witcher Series. Hope you, Danae, likes the outcome. ;)

_By ire ever growing hardening into stone Amidst the cold to hold you in a heated embrace.-_

Tremulous light illuminated the space between Emma’s feet and the riverbank as she walked, the rocks that laid there softly clashing as she moved her feet, their sharp edges cutting her skin every time she stepped a little too strongly on them. Pearly white fumes came from the water’s surface as dozens of souls were transported from one side to the other, Charon’s boat a pale mirage between them as she kept on walking, her leather clothes shining under the grey light with just a tad bit of red of the blood the ones that wept at the Cocytus side just a few meters away from where she was had spilled and were bound to always carry on them.

Her green eyes however, remained set on the river in front of her, her tongue peeking between her lips as she waited, time already something she really didn’t understand anymore. Like many others who were incarcerated back in Hell.

Sighing, she closed her eyes for a second, memories of wishful desires coming back to her, the shadowed touch of strong yet small hands making her open her eyes once again, feeling the prickling feeling of magic almost a touch away, the roof of her mouth tingling in the aftertaste of something that made her shed a few tears even though she didn’t exactly want to.

Playing with the penchant she still had on her neck she tried to found solace on its tiny cold surface to not avail, the waters of the river sloshing at her feet bringing her the memories of already passed moments. Of moments that had long ago moved forward.

“Such an idiot I was” She thought morosely, a bitter smile appearing on her lips for a second. She was able to feel sadness, even if was deeply embedded inside of her, but it was longing the feeling that made her walk the same path over and over again, waiting for just a second in where the river fumes would disappear and with it the door would be open, just a speck, just a millimeter.

“I will find the way” She had said once and when she finally saw a clearing between the waters she sighed, the voice of the woman she had been once but wasn’t anymore floating through the waters like the ghost of an already passed life. The riverbank was full of many other souls, souls that wished for a second opportunity and yet the blonde didn’t saw any the moment she took a step, her feet not touching the water, a murmur escaping her lips.

She didn’t utter a word when the mirage of another world, one that wasn’t hers anymore, started to appear, wind caressing her skin even if it was only a speck of reality connecting with her own memory. She also didn’t move when a shadow of black and grey appeared in front of her, feelings and memories of an already too late lasting promises coming also back at her, a smile touching her lips even if was followed by tears that she seemed to not be able to feel, even though she could feel the burning of them touching her skin.

Taking a step forward she felt a stabbing pain on her legs, her feet barely able to support her in the new form her body had been forced to turn into. Yet the burning feeling of reality was enough for her to keep standing as so she did.

Because if Emma would have been able to say more she knew that the tremulous vision in front of her wouldn’t have transformed into that.

“You came” She finally said to the figure, the voice modulating, making Emma almost close her eyes, wanting to bask on it, on the memories that were brought to her.

“I did” Regina said and her warm brown eyes were what Emma was finally able to see, the waters that kept her in Hell sloshing for a second, making her body to titillate.

The brunette exuded warmth, a warmth that made her hands prickle once again, this time the longing of touch the one responsible for it. Magic seemed to arise inside of her as she bent, her green eyes traveling between the waters, trying to reach the other side, the place where those hands awaited for her.

“How is Hell?” She was asked and she shrugged, unsure of how much, of how little, Regina would be able to read on that, not sure of how she could say without finding herself without words, without meanings vast enough to explain the concept of Hell. It was still far too new for her and yet it seemed as if time had already stopped completely inside of her, the dulling sound of the weeping creeping from behind for a second as she doubted.

But the woman in front of her was Regina, needed to be, and so she turned to look back at her, giving her back to the world that was now hers to live in, the whispered confessions at the side of the rivers coming back to her in swirling movements, the same way the waves those possessed helped her to remain steady above the now ashen-colored fumes.

“I miss you” She said and the burning inside of her seemed to grow, brown filling her vision, untold darkness receding under the irises of the woman that had been a queen once.

Her body stilled when she heard the answer, shadows and heat licking the tips of her nose, her chin, her lips, a warning, a promise touching the most hidden parts of herself, the ones she had tried to hide in order to remain sane.

She still felt a hole inside of her, pieces that had been cut from her the second she had made the final decision, a wave of sorrow and rich lose washing over her, burning too much, making her feel too much as Regina stared at her, so close and yet so far, so hot to the touch, almost burning, almost making her scream in pain.

_Dead cannot walk among the living_

She endured the pain, the magic calling her blood as she forced her eyes to remain steady, Regina’s mirage almost getting lost in the dark waters but resurfacing on the last minute, her floating voice making Emma to wish the same way she had once wished upon a little blue star.

**I thought I would be able to have more time.**

The words were there, floating inside of her and yet she didn’t dare to utter them, too tired perhaps of the dance she had been forced to take, forced to live, as the masquerade had kept moving forward, causing the mistakes she had so blindly taken once and again, thinking, feeling, that it all would have an explanation at the end of the path.

Yet, fate didn’t work like that and so she stood, the feeling of burning power reaching her senses, waters seeming restless under her feet.

She was able to see the snowflakes on Regina’s eyes when she moved forward, the shimmering around her body the tell-tale sign of how far away the two of them they really were, a point between realms, a path that was starting to be far too small and yet still enough for her, for them.

Cold, she mused, was something that she now was only able to feel inside of her and she wondered as she eyed the woman in front of her, the woman who she had whispered words that hadn’t been planned to be said back in a moment when everything had seemed to be less easy, how much the world around her had truly changed, had truly moved forward. As morbid as the question seemed to be she remembered what she had tried so hard to not to forget and so she started to move, a far too simple promise and yet meaningful enough for Regina to grab her hands and dance along with her, her feet moving slowly, unsteady, at the border of the dark waters, a promise, a calling, a whisper that burnt down the blonde’s nerves, that made her want to remain on that same state as she felt the brunette’s body far too real, far too strongly.

“I’m sorry” She heard and so she smiled as the two of them kept dancing in the middle of  nowhere, between words that had been uttered far too late, corpses of the seconds she would have been able to live scattered in front of her.

It was time, she knew it and so she turned, knowing that her escapade was up, that her mirage would need to wait.

“Is ok” She said, her body feeling the rocks under her feet once again, fumes clouding her vision, the smell of apples burning on her nose.

She still could see Regina’s mouth opening once again before her image disappeared, words escaping her mouth and hitting against the dark and grey ceiling of her prison.

“I love you”

Too late.


End file.
